When the class plants a tree in the playground, they watch it grow and discover that the tree supports an entire ecosystem as a robin protects her eggs, a lizard stalks a spider, a squirrel cares for her kits and more. Simultaneous eBook. Illustrations. - (Baker & Taylor)

Learn about all of the animals that coexist in just one tree that a classroom planted in this fun, informative, cumulative picture book in the tradition of This is the House That Jack Built.

A class plants a tree in the playground, and together, they watch it grow. There is no shortage of action to observe in its branches: a robin protecting her eggs from a squirrel and her kits, a lizard stalking a spider, and a hawk swirling around overhead. Within this tree is an entire ecosystem, all created by the class who planted it. Beloved children's book creator Kate McMullan has crafted a story that will encourage kids to cultivate a love of nature as they observe the world living inside their backyards. - (Random House, Inc.)

Kate McMullan is the author of many books for young readers, including How Do You Take a Bath? and How Do You Go To Sleep? with Sydney Hanson. She is also the author of I Stink!, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, and I'm Mighty! with her husband, noted illustrator Jim McMullan; the series has since been turned into the Amazon Prime show The Stinky & Dirty Show. Kate lives in New York City and Sag Harbor, New York, with her husband. Learn more about Kate and her work at katemcmullan.com or on Twitter @KateMcMullan1.

Alison Friend has loved painting and drawing for as long as she can remember. Animals were always a favorite subject, and as a child she copied them obsessively from wildlife books and encyclopaedias. She studied Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University and after graduating spent the next three years working as an apprentice stonemason high up on Nottingham's historic buildings. After a few years chipping away at stone, she moved to America where she began painting funny animal pictures to make into greetings cards. It was then she realized she should be illustrating books for children. Books she's illustrated include What Color is Caesar? by Maxine Kumin and Making a Friend by Tammi Sauer. See more of Alison's work on Instagram at @mcfriendy. - (Random House, Inc.)

Publishers Weekly Reviews

A single deciduous tree is the focal point of the children who planted it and the creatures who interact within its canopy in this cumulative story with a "This Is the House That Jack Built" construction. McMullan's first-person narration skews declarative and conversational as children with varying skin tones remark upon the busy scene they observe: "Look at that squirrel with a thrashing tail/ race by the robin/ that laid the eggs/ inside the nest/ that rests in the tree we planted." Later observations spotlight birds, insects, mammals, and a reptile, all carefully depicted in Friend's soft-edged mixed-media illustrations, which largely look upward into the tree's green foliage. A final scene of the children picnicking beneath crimson leaves reveals that their arboreal adventures have taken place over multiple seasons in this rhythmic read that stresses the interconnectedness of nature. Ages 4–7. (Feb.)